Honda Civic Coupe / Civic Si 2006+

bruinft · August 2007

I was just on the Honda site and saw that the 2007 Civic Si's are supposed to have tinted windows as a standard feature. Is it supposed to be noticeably tinted or is the tint so light it not really noticeable? I just want to be sure before I call the dealer because my windows don't really seem to be tinted at all.

Thanks

kyfdx · September 2007

It's not tinted in the sense that most people think of these days..

But, it is tinted.. I think every model car has glass that has a tint of some degree... The last car that I had with true clear glass was in 1977.

regards,
kyfdx
visiting host

bruinft · September 2007

Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I thought, although I was kind of hoping that a darker tint would be standard. Normally, I wouldn't care since I usually wear sunglasses, but with a black interior of the SI, it's so hot after a day of being parked in the sun.

error438 · September 2007

Does anyone know about a turbo/supercharger kit for an '06-'07 Honda Civic LX coupe (non-Si)?

eldaino · September 2007

if you go online, to 8thgencivic.com, there are some protoypes in the works...

however;

i'm very against this, and would love to hear why you would want to do this. the money it would actually cost to accomplish this would be better spent just buying an si...because at least it is already equipped with the OTHER performance mods you need, like a better equipped suspension, better seats, and most importantly, an engine that was almost made for tuning!

the r18 is a fantastic engine: sounds good, makes good power for its size, and gets outstanding fuel economy.

Why would you want to ruin that? Granted many have souped up the d-series engines in civics of yore, but those have a bit of potential, simply because they have been around forever. Plus, most of the reason why they get good fuel economy is because they are small and sit in a light chassis: the new civic, while not heavy, is no lightweight, and its engine has been engineered to haul it around AND deliver outstanding economy.

again, why ruin a good thing? :confuse:

tayl0rd · September 2007

...
again, why ruin a good thing?

To make it better? :confuse:

eldaino · September 2007

except that it wont!

did you read my response at all?

the r18, while it probably would be reliable even with a turbo as most honda engines are, was NOT made for this type of application; thats why cars like the si exist.

If he had these plans from the get go, an si should have been his first consideration, especially since it trumps the regular civc about 2 seconds on its zero to sixty time, which is about where a small turbo would put his civic.

and if he was resloved to turbo anyway, the si is a fantastic platform, remember, his civic will need all kinds of suspension work done to compensate for the extra power, again another expense that makes it not worth it.

so in a few paragraphs, no, its not 'better' its unnecessary. thats what the si is for. if it was free, ok. but unfortunately, its going to cost a lot, totally negating any 'benefits' of a project like this.

It also makes you wonder if honda's marketing is working, because people are actually sitting there thinking about all the stuff they can do with their civics, instead of just having bought an si. Its not more cost efficient, and the si is not expensive! what gives? :confuse:

tayl0rd · September 2007

The Si costs a good clip more than an LX. And a lot of people don't even bother with suspension, chassis, brake upgrades when throwing on power adders. But even if he did, he might be able to get a turbo system and some springs and still come out a little less than the cost of an Si, especially if he's talking about a coupe. The Si coupe costs right next to seven thousand dollars more than a base coupe.

k5ldb · September 2007

The Si coupe costs right next to seven thousand dollars more than a base coupe.

Not sure where you are shopping but the MSRP is $16,760 LX manual and $21,090 Si manual for a difference of $4330 not almost $7k. As already stated, the Si is going to do far better than an LX as a builder platform, especially at this price difference.

eldaino · September 2007

And a lot of people don't even bother with suspension, chassis, brake upgrades when throwing on power adders.

These people are known as ricers, and shouldn't be allowed to touch any car with intentions to modify it with a ten foot pole.

Sorry for assuming he was going to 'tune' his car the RIGHT way. I guess i should have known he wouldn't after reading that he was considering turboing an lx civic to begin with! :sick:

But even if he did, he might be able to get a turbo system and some springs and still come out a little less than the cost of an Si, especially if he's talking about a coupe. The Si coupe costs right next to seven thousand dollars more than a base coupe.

even a base coupe ( a dx) costs 15k. So at the very most, you are talking about a 6k difference. But he has an lx, so the difference is more like 4500.

Slapping some springs isn't going to do much with stock wheels and tires except make his handling WORSE. and when you turbo a car, you MUST prepare the suspension and chassis (coilovers, or springs, struts, strut tower bars etc) first, or youll be ready for disaster.

Do you realize how much turbo kits are? they are not cheap, especially for newer cars. And if there are any turbo kits for the r18, a lame company probably attempted it and again, we have a recepie for unreliability.

And when all is said and done, even after the turbo, he'll have a car thats slightly quicker than the si, and certainly not worth the cost it took to do it. ON top of that, it wont hold a candle to the si's handling.

iomatic · September 2007

eldaino is completely right. Again, the R18 is a great economy model engine; if you wanted performance, the Si, WRX TR, EVO, MS3, GTI, etc. are great platforms to start tuning from. The base models are absolutely upgradeable, but the cost-effectiveness just isn't there. We're just helping you understand, hopefully, but in the end it's your money: throw it away however you want.

It's like buying a fiberglass bathtub and deciding to add a set of claw feet to it... sure you can do it, it's just not a good idea. Just get the right platform to start.

eldaino · September 2007

thanks for the back up brotha.

this is one of the reasons i try and stay away from the 8thgen civic forums; to many nice people on that website that want to do this, and they get nuts over the parts that are available.

Its really silly stuff too, like going through the trouble of finding si sway bars because they are thicker. Its just silly.

iomatic · September 2007

8th gen? That place has a downright friendly Aloha spirit, compared to the more juvenile honda-tech forums.

eldaino · September 2007

well, yeah i guess it does.

i can hold my own against some mugen b series whore, its just dealing with the 'i can't wait till x company is done with the turbo for the r18!' kind of stuff. :sick:

kenlw · September 2007

Taking a good base car and wanting to "fix it up" is a theme I've seen for years on other forums. Every 3rd person that logged onto the (now defunct) Camryman forum was a 16 year old kid, who being given an 93 i4 AT camry with 90k miles on it wanted to swap the v6 and a supercharger and manual.

They seemed to think that spending 5k on a car worth maybe 3k was somehow a neat thing to do. I usually suggested they save their money for a real "fast" car someday.

Some listened, if only when mommy-san said no.

Others took the more than adequate v6 and after putting the charger on it, decided that 250HP wasn't enough, so dropped the pulley diameter to crank it up to near 300hp. And then wondered why their once-ultra-reliable Toyota engine was blowing smoke and drinking oil like there was no tomorrow....

eldaino · September 2007

i have seen it justified before though.

taking a mid 90's civic hatchback and swapping in a performance oriented b series motor or even a new k series like in the si yields some very impressive results.

its very common to see guys with old coupes and hatches spend about 8k on a k series swap and then have their cars doing 13's or less in the quater mile for a fraction of what other cars cost.

but the supercharged camry is a bit much.

kenlw · September 2007

..what you've done is taken a fairly reliable car, pump a bunch of dollars into it, and now you have a fastER but much less reliable car. You've also lowered the resale and spent enough $$ to buy a REAL fast car.

It makes no more sense on an old Civic than it does on an old Camry if it is your daily driver and you need reliable transportation.

A garage build that only comes out for real races (on real tracks) is a totally different beast.

punkr77 · September 2007

I'll vouch for the seats in the Si. Very, very comfy.

As far as learning to drive on it, I wouldn't sweat it too much, as long as you give yourself a bit to get comfortable before shifting into boy racer mode.

Other than a 5 minute drive in an old Porsche 944, I had never driven a manual before I bought my 95 Civic EX manual new. I stalled it a few times on the test drive. I was fairly comfortable with it in a day (though hills took a couple of weeks).

My dad had it after me, and relearned how to drive a MT after 25 years in automatics. It still had the original clutch and tranny when he sold it 6 months ago (with 115k on the clock).

Running a manual in traffic can be a pain for some. On the up side, the civic has a super light clutch, so it's more of a figurative pain. As long as you don't anticipate eating, talking on the phone, and shaving while you (attempt to) drive, you should be OK> Doing stop and go in my 99 Mustang Cobra for 4 hours (hurrican evacuation) was a LITERAL pain. I could barely walk when I got out of the car.

eldaino · October 2007

ken do you have any real knowledge about the tuning 'scene' because to say that only a garage build for real races is what works is just as bad as the kids who think they are cool with the fart can mufflers.

ASIDE from the exquiste power to weight ratio, and stock handling traits, putting a more powerful engine into civic is easy because honda also built the more powerful engine; done properly, there are virtually no issues, and its been proven.

And probably the main reason that souping up small honda four cylinders ever got popular is BECAUSE they are legendary for accepting powerful mods WIHOUT any affect to reliabilty. Again, something that has been proven. Do they fail sometimes? Ofcourse, but the reason many are drawn to honda is the fact that the engines are bulletproof to being with.

As far as the camry goes, it really has NOTHING going for it, no ounce of handling or a good power to weight ratio. THAT is whats pointless.

Mind you, the mods in question that i was reffering to on smaller hondas are not very expensive at all. Certainly not the 30k some sports cars demand. Though you can spend that much and still obliterate them.

punkr77 · October 2007

I always thought dumping money into an economy car to make it something it was never designed for was kind of silly. Taking a $20k car and dumping $10k into it just never made any sense to me when you could buy a $30k car that would be faster more often than not,still keep the new car warranty reliability and drivability. Not to mention that most insurance policies will only pony up what a stock car is worth if it's ever stolen or wrecked.

About the only thing sillier in my mind are the people who buy a $1,000 car and spend $8k on wheels and a really loud stereo.

eldaino · October 2007

who says the car has to be 20K? My buddies civic cost him a few grand to purchase, and his total out of pocket cost was about 10k and he has enough performance to run with a 50k car.

Not to shabby in my opinion. It may not be everyone's 'thing' but everyone spends money, and sometimes a lot, on things that another person wouldn't. On a newer car it makes less sense, but the warranty isn't a real issue if you are the kind of guy who likes to work on your car and are only after performance...in other words a total moot point.

I to agree with the buying of a 1k car and adding 8k wheels, but thats not what were talking about.

laynetc · October 2007

I just purchased a 2007 Civic SI Coupe. Generally, I like the car, but the are a lot of rattles. The dealer attempts to fix them ,but I am disappointed in buying a new car and having so many rattles to live with. Most of mine come from the right side of the car. Has anyone had the same problem and were you able to get this resolved. Most of the problem seems to come from the right door -- I would like to know if this is something that can be solved. Other than that, I am pretty happy with the car.

punkr77 · October 2007

The only noises I've encountered with mine are a slight rattle from the sunroof sometimes and some front suspension "popping".

The sunroof thing only seems to happen when I've just pulled out of the garage. The alley behind my house is pretty rough and uneven, so I think it's just "settling in" after first being driven after me parking it in the garage and closing it.

The popping only happens at very low speeds when I hit a large bump. Usually pulling out of inclined driveways or out of businesses onto a street.

I wouldn't think a door rattle would be too hard to fix. Were it me, I'd try a different dealer. If they can't fix it. I'd get in touch with the regional service manager from Honda. Explain the problem, show him paperwork from your multiple visits, and ask for guidance. I would expect Honda would much rather make good on the problem rather than having an unhappy customer whose likely to share their problem with other potential buyers.

If that doesn't work, the last resort could be legal action. Perhaps taking it to an indy body shop and suing to recover the money.

coupe2 · December 2007

Does anybody know if you can re program the Si computer to run on mid greade or regular gas?

shipo · December 2007

Most likely not. The Si has an 11.0:1 compression ratio and running anything less than Premium (91 AKI or higher) is a recipe for mechanical disaster. The question I have is, "Why would you want to?"

The reality is that even if your engine could safely run lower grades of fuel, your gas mileage will drop so much that the cheaper fuel (per gallon) will end up costing you more (i.e. cost per mile).

Best Regards,
Shipo

unkownuser · December 2007

Shipo, do you have real knowledge of your assertion that regular gas would destroy your SI engine ("mechanical disaster") and / or gas consumption would rise so much that it would cost more (which I guess assumes no mechanical disaster), or is this speculation?

Most ignition time these days is done with sensor to adjust same to prevent premature detanation. Question is, is this the case with the SI, given Honda's engineering quirkiness? I wonder what the exact words in the owners manual are regarding this.

shipo · December 2007

I'll deal with the reduction in mileage first. Fact: Any engine that is designed to be able to take advantage of Premium fuel WILL get measurably worse mileage when the timing is retarded to allow it to safely burn Regular. Period, full stop, the end.

As for the issue of mechanical damage, no, I have no first hand experience of destroying an Si engine (or any other high compression engine that "Requires" Premium fuel for that matter), I simply will not subject my engines to that kind of abuse. That said, I've been turning wrenches for over thirty years and have seen the results of octane skimping any number of times, and it ain't pretty.

The fact is that as compression ratio rises, the heat generated from the compression will eventually reach a point where it is too high for any amount of timing retardation to prevent detonation (and engine damage as a result). Is it 10.5:1? How about 11.0:1? Maybe 11.5:1? I don't know for sure where the threshold is (it varies by engine, OAT, humidity, altitude, and a few other variables), however, I do know one thing for sure, the engineers at Honda don't just "Recommend" Premium fuel (which is the language usually reserved for cars that CAN retard the timing far enough to burn Regular), they "Require" it. Given that Honda engineers have a very good reputation with regards to the care and feeding of the engines they design, my bet is that if they say that Premium fuel is "Required", only a fool would tempt fate and run anything less than 91 AKI in their Si.

Best Regards,
Shipo

hbicks4 · December 2007

I recently bought a 08 si coupe and love it. The one thing that I noticed is that there Are some squeaks coming from the passenger dash and wondering if I should even bother taking it back to the dealer? Any thought or similar noises out there?

aznxboy86 · December 2007

i have the same problem...where is this intake air temperature??

drmbb · January 2008

You don't have to reprogram anything. The knock sensor in the engine will retard ignition to accommodate the lower octane fuel automatically.

However, as shipo has posted, you cannot change the engines compression ratio (unless you plan on rebuilding it yourself), so you would be running your engine with continually retarded ignition. That is going to give you worse gas mileage and will increase your exhaust emissions (if you care about the air you breathe).

So, I too do not see the point. If you really want to run regular gas, you'd have been far better off buying a regular EX sedan instead of an Si.

tayl0rd · January 2008

As was already said, you'll have horrible gas mileage. I have first hand experience with that one. Not in an Si, but another car where premium was only "recommended." I would get a solid 50 miles LESS per tank of gas, and the car ran and felt very anemic. With an 11:1 compression ratio, I'm sure your owners manual states that you should only run regular gas in an emergency situation with just a few gallons of it in the tank and to fill up with premium as soon as possible.

Sure you can run regular in it, but I wouldn't dare trying to run that engine up to 8K RPM with it!! That would be begging for busted pistons and/or bent rods. And there's no way it'd pass an emissions test.

euroblue · January 2008

ok i have a big problem this honda civic and i dont want to junk it . this is what happened normal drivening for a few miles like 5000 after i got it and the #4 pistons blent on me so i got a head from a junk yard the car was running`good the parts car . so i went home got a new head gasket checked to make sure the head wasn't bent and the block they checked out so i put the head on just like to service manully expained in detail changed the old and antifreez also new plug and wires . ok so to make it somewhat shorter it run but only 1&4 r working so it doesn't run right anyone got any ideas to help me out on this one ?????? :sick: :lemon: :confuse:

ramza · April 2008

ok this may or may not help you but if you message me and give me some more info on the car and what is doing when you start it i may be able to help you some. it could be a timing problem or sparkplugs weren't put in correctly. most likely its your distrubuter is off or cyl 2 and 3 spark plugs are not plugged in correctly. hopefully this may help you i would check all of your connections and COMPLEATLY switch the plugs to see if its just faulty cables. also check the head you pulled and make sure there is no damage to the intake valves that may cause a major problem even if its a chip the size of a large grain of sand.well message me back and ill try to help you my email is terencenaylor@yahoo.com i am not a pro but im good with cars. if i cant help you ill get u info from one of my friends.

rock_strongo · June 2008

Hey all,
I was wondering what typical MPG you Si folks are seeing? I am coming from a Subaru Forester XT, and I'm probably in the low to mid-20's MPG. I know both cars take premium fuel, but if the Si gets better gas mileage I would consider switching over. My commute (95%) is mostly highway.
Any advice/help would be appreciated.

cz75 · June 2008

I average 26-27 mpg, which is mostly suburban and rural secondary roads.

motonation · June 2008

There's a whole thread on Civic mileage - check it out: http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ef7f897/1649

There's also info at 8thcivic.com about it.

Most people seem to average in the mid to high twenties overall, but many people have reported hwy mileage in the 33-34 range. I'm thinking of purchasing one myself, and have a friend with an 07 Si sedan that gets that on the highway, so it can be done; maybe even a bit more if you have everything working in your favor.

rock_strongo · June 2008

Very good info. thanks a bunch.

unkownuser · June 2008

For those who have indicated that fuel efficiency will be crushed by using regular, I would like to know by how much, if any. I hear strong definite assertions, but little (actually, no) empirical results, and so must ask.

cz75 · June 2008

Unknown. However, it is because the ECU retards spark timing to prevent detonation and keep the motor together on more volatile lower octane fuels.

One thing about using premium, is that most places the differential, no matter what fuel prices rise to, is always going to be $2.60 more for a 13 gallon tank.

shipo · June 2008

I've seen several scientific studies that showed as high as a 15% reduction in fuel economy, however, most reductions show up in the 5% to 8% range. With regard to the Civic Si, Honda doesn't just Recommend Premium, they Require it. The fact is, the Si has a high 11.0:1 compression ratio, a ratio that is so high that detonation is almost guaranteed to occur at all but the lowest power settings if Premium fuel isnt used.

Long story short, the bigger issue with the Si engine isnt fuel economy, it is engine protection. If someone holes a piston, Hondas most likely going to charge the owner a pretty penny for the repairs.

Best Regards,
Shipo

robotaz · July 2008

I bought an '08 Civic Si coupe and will be selling it at a loss of $2,200 just to get rid of it. These cars are cheap. I thought people saying the plastic was cheap meant that it looked cheap, which it does, but what they really mean is that it's garbage and scratches and scuffs with very little effort. Additionally, the rattles are unbearable. I couldn't listen to it one more second. I parked it, ran an ad, and sold it. Never again will I buy a Honda. They are the most over-rated joke of a car. If you're not a little kid and you know what quality really is you will not be at all happy with this car. The pluses stop with looks and quickness. I refuse to drive crappy, squeaky, rattling cars and this one is the worst new car that I have ever bought. Thank goodness I bought it for resale alone and could bail on it. I feel sorry for people who can't get out of it. I had to buy a truck to pull my boat and bought a new Ford. I never would've guessed, but that truck makes this car look like a '83 Yugo when talking about quality. I now realize that the Honda hype is due to morons buying them who don't know what they're talking about. I'm going to try the Mazdaspeed 3 now. Hopefully it won't be so junky.

shipo · July 2008

As a suggestion, you might want to try a VW GTI or GLI. I know that the GTI is currently being offered with 0% financing for up to 72 months. FWIW, I'm looking in that direction as well.

Best Regards,
Shipo

cz75 · July 2008

Funny, but my Si has the fewest rattles of any Honda or Acura I've ever driven. Anyone expecting something better out of Mazda probably has another thing coming. VW products seem solid, but maybe that's because they never get driven enough to squeak and rattle because there's always something going wrong with them that requires them to be parked for service. Personally, I can't help but wonder if this post is for real and what, if any, steps were taken to resolve the rattle before selling at a loss.

mocivic · July 2008

I think there's a reason a "lemon law" exists: Some cars ARE lemons. I think to characterize all Hondas in the way you did is to ignore thousands of satisfied customers and experienced reviewers.
Here's where I'm coming from: I just had MINI buy back my 2007 MINI Cooper S after having to replace three clutches in just a bit over one year. Even though MINI newsgroups have documented many with the same problem, they would blame me and then reluctantly replace it. In addition there were numerous other irritants like rattles that developed, or auto windows moving slowly. As much as I loved the drive, I could not trust the car.
My Honda Civic LX Coupe was $9000. less than the MINI, and feels tighter, smoother, quieter, and WAY more reliable. Did I get lucky? I think not. I think you got unlucky w/ your SI, and I got unlucky with my MINI. Both experiences turned us away, but I know there ARE many good MINIs out there. You should admit the same is true for Hondas.

cz75 · July 2008

The statistics would indicate that there are many more good Hondas than Minis, or Mazdas, or VWs.

shipo · July 2008

"The statistics would indicate that there are many more good Hondas than Minis, or Mazdas, or VWs."

On an historic basis, I might actually believe that, however, since the Gen 8 Civic and the Mark 5 Rabbit/Jetta/GTI/GLI debuted (both in 2006), I'm thinking that if anything, the roles have been reversed.

Best Regards,
Shipo

cz75 · July 2008

That doesn't seem like enough time to get a feel for long-term reliability on the VWs, which have a bad reputation to live down. Honda has a good reputation to blow.

shipo · July 2008

"Honda has a good reputation to blow."

Get on a couple of dedicated Honda Civic boards. It seems that the reputation is well on it's way to being blown.

Typical complaints include (but are not limited to) the following items:

- Numerous engine failures due to bad block casting
- Cheaper interior than the Honda Fit
- Rear suspension geometry causing squirrely handling and premature tire wear. FWIW, the 2006 model year has a TSB on this issue, however, the problem seems to persist to this day, and dealers are very reticent to swap out the rear suspension.
- Numerous transmission related issues, especially 3rd gear on the Si tranny.
- Annoying rev-hang when lifting off the throttle.
- Lots of squeaks and rattles
- Intermittent A/C effectiveness on really hot days

After driving both back-to-back (along with an Mazda3), my favorite is the Rabbit/GTI, and it wasn't even close.

Best Regards,
Shipo

mocivic · July 2008

I think what matters is the current quality of product that is being turned out, not if one is going down or up in quality. The boards are both a blessing and a curse: If one never reads them, you'd almost never hear of all the problems that are combined and concentrated on the boards. I'm guessing that almost every board where the focus is on problems with a particular vehicle would be enough to cause one to give up cars for bicycles. But then we'd just find all the flaws on the bicycle boards. I don't mean to be overly simplistic, and I'm certainly happy to hear about problems that need to be addressed. I guess it's the wholesale "this brand sucks" attitude that gets to me. When you find the "trouble-free manufacturer" of your dreams, keep dreaming.

cz75 · July 2008

Which engines have the bad casting, the K or the R-series?

I find the Si interior is better than any previous Acura I've owned and as good as my folks' last gen TL-S, except that the metallic-look trim pieces don't, which equals "cheap." Honda should take a lesson from Audi and use real aluminum (but avoid taking lessons on designing A/C, radio, wiper and cruise control controls from Audi).

My rear suspension has a little too much negative camber, but it isn't squirrely and I can buy new UCAs, either the non-adjustable OEM from '08 on, or SPC adjustible to correct.

My transmission would jump out of third, but I replaced the fluid with synchromesh and it hasn't been an issue since. I had grinding issues with my last 5-speed Acura transmission that a fluid change also fixed.

The rev hang is a pain, but it is also mandated by stricter emissions requirements. I know many other cars are also DBW and don't have the issue, but each engine design has unique characteristics that may exacerbate or mitigate.

Again, the squeaks and rattles are fewer than any other Honda/Acura product I've driven.

My A/C cooled me down within ten minutes from 106 last summer with high humidity. A Mazda3 wouldn't do it in 20 minutes of test-driving from under 90, twice.

VWs always do seem to have thoughtful features and drive well, but no one in my family has owned one since the early '80s and won't until they get a consistent reliability record.

Honda Civic Coupe / Civic Si 2006+

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